I want to make a battery charger discharger with an arduino, to be able to plot graphs. And afaik N mosfets are better in terms of Ron and cheaper and easier to find. I have only N mosfets by the hand, so i decided to use only them, as a design restriction rule.

\$\begingroup\$you don't need to short the +5 got ground, only the bottom end or R2 needs to be connected to +5. That's going to be tricky to do with a N-channel-MOSFET because to do that you need a voltage higher than 5V for the MOSFET gate.\$\endgroup\$
– JasenJan 22 at 3:54

\$\begingroup\$@Jasen So, a P mosfet actually better fits here (as it requires gate pulled below). Thanks for remark. So you vote for it is impossible, or would require some boost converter?\$\endgroup\$
– xakepp35Jan 22 at 3:57

\$\begingroup\$a boost converter could do it. but not easier than a P-FET\$\endgroup\$
– JasenJan 22 at 4:17

\$\begingroup\$@Jasen What if I add 12v rail as a power source?\$\endgroup\$
– xakepp35Jan 22 at 4:19

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\$\begingroup\$You may want to measure short term ESR and long term ESR which have different time constants using current sense and active loads electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/376850/… It depends if you choose high or low side sensing and loading for Pch Nch options. Look at Battery Coulomb counter IC designs\$\endgroup\$
– Sunnyskyguy EE75Jan 22 at 5:01

1 Answer
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You don't need to short the +5 got ground, only the bottom end or R2 needs to be connected to +5. That's going to be tricky to do with a N-channel-MOSFET because to do that you need a voltage higher than 5V for the MOSFET gate.

\$\begingroup\$Nice one, simple and clear. Where does M2's source go? (far away to the bottom line) That's a "blot", I guess?\$\endgroup\$
– xakepp35Jan 24 at 15:09

\$\begingroup\$Hovewer, having 2 voltages - this is too much. The 5V doesn't need to be strong - because it is only required for Arduino. And there could be even no 5V, because Arduino will just take it from USB port. Could I get rid of 5V here? If I have full 12V, and charge current could just be controlled by M1? Is that possible - single voltage rail + N-mosfets only? I wonder if maybe there could be a trick, "known only to old-school professionals" :)\$\endgroup\$
– xakepp35Jan 24 at 15:10

\$\begingroup\$where does M2's source go? to M1's drain. that bottom line is the same as in the question.\$\endgroup\$
– JasenJan 25 at 6:18

\$\begingroup\$5V is charging the battery, looks like about 200mA - you could use the USB perhaps. if you connect the battery to 12V in gets hard to measure battery voltage.\$\endgroup\$
– JasenJan 25 at 6:20

\$\begingroup\$I am making 8(eight channel) charger, for 18650, each battery is rated at 3000mAh each, recommended max charge current is 3A (3*4.2 reuquires to reserve at least 12-13 watts per each battery channel for good charging), so i need at least 105 watt power supply. On the 5V line that will be whooping 21 Apms, wires are to be very large, and also its hard to find suitable PSU for such a needs. So I would like to use 12V rail instead, for power supply needs, and build my own charger, where each channel is programmed and logged (Perhaps, with better schematics)\$\endgroup\$
– xakepp35Jan 28 at 9:33